While the other Rancid members all already came out the closet with their own side-projects, Matt Freeman was kinda quiet compared to his brothers in arms. Featuring Freeman on vocals and bass, Armstrong on guitars and former X drummer DJ Bonebrake, Devil’s Brigade formed back in 2000, but have only sparingly released anything. A couple of EP’s and contributions to Hellcat Records’ “Give ‘Em The Boot” compilations was all up ‘til now. That’s all changing now that Devil’s Brigade first full-length is finally a fact. And this album may be many things, quiet it is not.
Freeman whipped out his standup bass for this one and wrote some loud and fast punkrock/psychobilly songs around his runs up and down the bass neck. Right from the start he storms out the gates with the one-two combo that is “I’m Movin Through” and “My Own Man”. He doesn’t mind slowing things down though as is proven on songs like “Gentleman Of The Road” and “Bridge Of Gold”.
As it happens it’s the mellow songs I like the most. Not that there’s anything wrong with the fast cuts on here, it’s just that Freeman’s barks are a little over the top and get kinda tiresome after one or two songs. That’s the album’s biggest flaw if you ask me. If you can look past that though, you have yourself a well-written punkrock meets psychobilly album on your hands.
Score: 7 out of 10
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